A little backround on the project before we begin...
My girlfriend's dad Gary had a 72 Tii he had been restoring for about 10 years. Gary, a longtime resident of the Roaring Fork Valley Colorado was an accomplished woodworker and cabinet maker so every aspect of the restoration was done by himself, at home, in his garage. Gary was the kind of man that would pour himself into a project even if that meant teaching himself how to paint a car, mix the thinner ratio wrong and spend months sanding it all off by hand to redo it to perfection. A true craftsman, a tinkerer and a master of anything mechanical. A man's man.
Rarely in life do things go as planned. Gary was taken from us in January of 2013, he left behind his wife Victoria and his daughter, my girlfriend of nearly 4 years now, Ana. He also left his Chamonix 1972 2002 Tii, nearly completed for Ana to finish. Its been 1 1/2 years since his passing and we have been slowly hatching a plan to drive to Colorado, pick up the Tii, take it to O'Fest in nearby (coincidentally) Beaver Creek in his honor and bring it back to our little shop in Winchester VA.
The man and his car:
Me and Gary:
We have compiled these photos from what we could find on Gary's computer, pictures we have taken of the car and other random images we gathered along the way.
Getrag 245
This is one of his last projects before he passed, a custom center console that he planned on selling copies of.
This is how the car currently sits:
SOME Q&A:
So whats the plan you say?? Well... things never go as planned.
Q: But why not just have the car picked up in Colorado by some transportation company, wait a week or so and meet them at the shop in Winchester? Too easy. Here's why this won't work:
A:
1. The car isn't assembled, it doesn't have doors on it. Or a hood. Or the truck lid.
2. We would still need to fly out and assemble the car before someone could pick it up.
3. Transportation companies always screw a car up, if anyone is going to damage the car during transportation its gonna be me!
Q: But wouldn't you need a truck and trailer if you wanted to do it yourself?
A: I bought a 1992 F350 crew cab and small open deck car trailer a few months back. 444 CI of International excellence. 5 speed manual. No cruise control. A real truck, 7000 lb curb weight. 12 MPG. Impractical? Yes.
Here is the truck with my brothers E30 in tow:
Q: If its not assembled and driveable how is it going to O Fest?
A: Not sure, we are winging this pretty hardcore. We are going to try to get most of it assembled before the trip back anyway to at least make it weatherproof. There is a show and shine in Eagle we would like to drive it to but that depends on how much we get put back together.
So thats about it. Stay tuned for more pictures from the road and if you are headed to O Fest look for the huge Ford pickup with a very special Tii on the trailer. Honk wildly if you see us!!
My girlfriend's dad Gary had a 72 Tii he had been restoring for about 10 years. Gary, a longtime resident of the Roaring Fork Valley Colorado was an accomplished woodworker and cabinet maker so every aspect of the restoration was done by himself, at home, in his garage. Gary was the kind of man that would pour himself into a project even if that meant teaching himself how to paint a car, mix the thinner ratio wrong and spend months sanding it all off by hand to redo it to perfection. A true craftsman, a tinkerer and a master of anything mechanical. A man's man.
Rarely in life do things go as planned. Gary was taken from us in January of 2013, he left behind his wife Victoria and his daughter, my girlfriend of nearly 4 years now, Ana. He also left his Chamonix 1972 2002 Tii, nearly completed for Ana to finish. Its been 1 1/2 years since his passing and we have been slowly hatching a plan to drive to Colorado, pick up the Tii, take it to O'Fest in nearby (coincidentally) Beaver Creek in his honor and bring it back to our little shop in Winchester VA.
The man and his car:
Me and Gary:
We have compiled these photos from what we could find on Gary's computer, pictures we have taken of the car and other random images we gathered along the way.
Getrag 245
This is one of his last projects before he passed, a custom center console that he planned on selling copies of.
This is how the car currently sits:
SOME Q&A:
So whats the plan you say?? Well... things never go as planned.
Q: But why not just have the car picked up in Colorado by some transportation company, wait a week or so and meet them at the shop in Winchester? Too easy. Here's why this won't work:
A:
1. The car isn't assembled, it doesn't have doors on it. Or a hood. Or the truck lid.
2. We would still need to fly out and assemble the car before someone could pick it up.
3. Transportation companies always screw a car up, if anyone is going to damage the car during transportation its gonna be me!
Q: But wouldn't you need a truck and trailer if you wanted to do it yourself?
A: I bought a 1992 F350 crew cab and small open deck car trailer a few months back. 444 CI of International excellence. 5 speed manual. No cruise control. A real truck, 7000 lb curb weight. 12 MPG. Impractical? Yes.
Here is the truck with my brothers E30 in tow:
Q: If its not assembled and driveable how is it going to O Fest?
A: Not sure, we are winging this pretty hardcore. We are going to try to get most of it assembled before the trip back anyway to at least make it weatherproof. There is a show and shine in Eagle we would like to drive it to but that depends on how much we get put back together.
So thats about it. Stay tuned for more pictures from the road and if you are headed to O Fest look for the huge Ford pickup with a very special Tii on the trailer. Honk wildly if you see us!!
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